Travel Philosophy

What does a list of the top 10 albums for fall/autumn have to do with travel? Well, not much, I suppose, but like travel, there seems to be certain albums that just sound better during a certain time of the year, much like certain albums just sound better when you’re on the road getting away. […]

“Hi I’m Wei and I just quit my job of 10 years. I intend to spend the next year traveling around the world with my wife.” You’d be surprised by the myriad of responses this ice-breaking statement managed to evoke. The wife and I are used to hearing the gasps of horror and the plain […]

The following four snippets are the result of my slow and ongoing realization of how fortunate I am to have been born into the time and place I was. From an early age we are taught that we are lucky: “You’re not going to finish your peas? There are kids dying in Africa because they don’t […]

I’m pretty 100% in the anti-cruise camp with Arthur Frommer, unless that cruise is incidental to a small trip (like the great overnight cruise I took from Sweden to Estonia over the Midsummer holiday), or something as wacky as the recently-launched North Korean cruise. Yes, you read that right, appropriately enough, cruises — er, a […]

Legs Would Only Get in the Way: A Q&A With Author, Photographer and Traveler Kevin Michael Connolly In this age we live in, seeing a legless man sitting on a bar stool would likely lead to a conversation surrounding Iraq or Afghanistan. That is, unless that man is Kevin Michael Connolly. If you were sitting […]

Bootsnall decided to send out a call to their readers via social media for the worst travel advice they’ve ever received, resulting in some of those nuggets of unfounded wisdom that most of us have heard. “Don’t go to ____ because it’s dangerous,” “Don’t eat food from street vendors,” “Don’t talk to strangers on the […]

If I were superstitious, I might have seen the lion as a sign that in an hour-and-a-half I was going to be kidnapped or murdered. From the back of my motorcycle my roommate McKenzie pointed and exclaimed, “Dude, there is lion just sitting in a cage in that vacant lot. A lion!” I just shrugged and […]

As travelers, we are given the opportunity to see and experience the grandness that this world has to offer and a variety of options. Sometimes, we are so used to options that we leave things to last minute in order to get the best deal. However, as trips go, planning and not planning can have […]

When I travel I make a point to talk to as many people as possible. Shopowners, hostelmates, street performers, it doesn’t matter. I once tried to start a conversation with an actor from a telenovela during a shoot in Colombia, but I was quickly escorted away by security. There is one exception, and that’s when […]

We usually experience epic moments in the down-and-out. It’s what makes for good stories because (hopefully) these moments are not part of the normal day-to-day. Rain, snow, heat and cold, when we gently suffer through discomfort a bed (even a hostel bed) never feels so cozy. Often, travel woes are what ear-mark great writers. In a […]